The Women by Kristin Hannah

I am a huge Kristin Hannah fan. I have read most of what she has written, including before she ventured into writing historical fiction. I have only rated one of her novels 4 stars instead of 5 stars, and I know that rating was not a popular opinion! Ha! I just didn't like how whiny the main character was. Anyway, I digress. I really loved this book. This was definitely a 5 star read for me! It was painful to read at times, but honest. My father served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He didn't see combat (fortunately). I was too young to know what was going on in our country at that time, but I have always felt awful for the returning veterans. Many of them didn't even have the choice to go to war! So why were they treated so terribly when they returned to the US? After WWI and WWII it was considered honorable to fight for one's freedom from tyranny. That's what they thought they were doing. It's not their fault that we were losing the war and that the US continued to send young men (and women!) to their deaths even after the tide had turned and the US realized it was a fruitless battle. It's deplorable and makes me heartsick. What I didn't know is that the women serving in this war were not considered "veterans". They also saw the horrors of war.

The story portrayed Frankie's despair very effectively. First, being treated like a second-class citizen by her father (as many - most? - females were back then, including in my own military family); being betrayed by the man she loved; being told that "women" were not in Vietnam over and over again; being told that she was not considered a Vietnam vet after serving two terms; not being able to get help from the VA Hospital; becoming a victim to addiction because of the lack of knowledge about the mental & emotional damage done to active duty soldiers -  and surgery nurses in the field! (PTSD); being exposed to Agent Orange continually, which caused women to miscarry.

The entire book I was praying for a happy ending for Frankie. I wanted her to be acknowledged by her father. I wanted her to feel loved. I wanted her to become stronger because of her traumatic experiences instead of succumb to them. She had two amazing best friends (Barb & Ethel) that supported her, fortunately. I'm not sure where she would have ended up if it wasn't for them. She also ended up having incredible, loving support from a man she couldn't quite marry. He was really awesome. The ending was what I hoped for. Thank goodness.

Wendy's Rating: *****